


Carpinus

by ImperialMint



Series: left and north of where we met [kakayama week 2017] [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 04:59:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11890533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialMint/pseuds/ImperialMint
Summary: Kakayama week 2017 Day 3: In the Dog HouseThere's a slight degree of awkwardness in anyone seeking to marry their daughter off to the Hokage. Especially if he's actually quietly married already.





	Carpinus

**Author's Note:**

> I swear this started off as a prompt from [vibgyoroygbiv](https://vibgyoroygbiv.tumblr.com/), but I can't find the prompt for the life of me. I do have a prompt from an anon about marriage so possibly I got confused? Who knows. If this was or wasn't originally for you vibgyoroygbiv, it can be now if you'll have it!!
> 
> But this deviated very far from what I originally wanted it to be, and it just seemed to stay that way. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy it and don't like it - just it's not what I thought it would become!

It starts at the end of a mission. They’re dirty, Naruto is laughing obnoxiously, Yamato and Sai are busy discussing something that sounds like taxes, and all Sakura wants is a bath and then bed. She wonders if she can force a new deal through, where each team must have at least two women on it, and glares at her team mates, loathing filling her. She loves them, don’t get her wrong, but they’re men, and they have no idea how much Sakura suffers for them. 

“Ah look,” a familiar voice chirps from the welcome desk as Sakura stomps past. She pauses and turns in confusion to see Kakashi, current Hokage and former leader of their team. Current Hokage who shouldn’t be at the welcome desk, but ensconced under paperwork in his office. “It’s my favourite team, returned from a land apparently of mud and sewer water.”

Sakura can see his nose wrinkle beneath his mask, and she resists the urge to hit Kakashi. 

“I’m so sorry you were too busy sitting on your ass here to join us, Hokage-sama,” she says sarcastically, eyebrow twitching when Naruto slings an arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t mind her Kakashi-sensei! Sakura-chan’s just bitter she’s the one who fell face first into the bog and-“ Naruto doubles over as Sakura hits him, and for all the violence solves nothing speeches, it really did feel good.

“Ah,” Kakashi comments, and Sakura notes he wisely says nothing more on the matter. “It’s nice to have you back.”

Sakura raises an eyebrow. There’s nothing special about them returning from a mission, unless you counted the fact that Yamato had shown up the second after Sakura had fallen into the bog. He’d cheerfully explained that his rotation watching Orochimaru had ended, and that their mission doubled as an extraction. He’d then paused, made a worried sound as he’d finally noticed she’d been choking on silty mud, and then Naruto had started laughing and it had been downhill from there.

“I’m sure it is,” Sakura says from between clenched teeth. All she wants is a bath and some booze. In no particular order. She feels like a bitching session with Ino might be in order too, god knows she needs some female influence after this day.

“Just checking in,” Kakashi continues, and it’s beyond weird now. Sakura glances to the rest of her team. Naruto is busy picking his nose (seriously, disgusting), Sai is neutral in every aspect of the word, but Yamato looks as weirded-out as she is. Small miracles.

“Not that it’s not been peachy, are we allowed to go and get clean before reporting in, or is this a new special service you’re offering at the gate?” Sakura knows she’s pushing the boundaries of their relationship, but if anyone can handle her rudeness after spending the greater part of her afternoon floundering in mud, it’s Kakashi.

“Ahh,” he comments, as if he’s a wise sage. “I just felt like seeing you. Nostalgia, that sort of thing.” Kakashi waves a hand, and Sakura has had enough. Naruto and Sai shrug, but the odd expression on Yamato’s face catches Sakura’s attention. She decides to watch him, instead of the weirdness Kakashi is doing.

“Nostalgia?” Sakura says, narrowing her eyes. A flake of mud crumbles from her face and she winces.

“Hypothetical question for you all,” Kakashi says, ushering them along the path that will take them to the Hokage tower. His hand lingers on Yamato’s back, and Sakura stares at it with wide eyes, heart pounding.

“If someone wanted to marry you off, how would you respond?” Sakura sees Yamato jerk, ignores Sai’s thoughtful hum and Naruto’s puzzled exclamation. She feels as if she’s on the edge of an epiphany, but there are too few dots to connect. Maybe the bog mud infiltrated her brain, it’s certainly a possibility.

“Hypothetically,” Yamato said, and oh boy Sakura knows the doghouse tone when she hears one. The dots are certainly connecting, and Sakura has a thought on why Kakashi’s doing this in public with them, rather than in private.

Well tough shit, she thinks. 

“I’m going home,” she announces smugly, smile widening as Yamato turns to her gratefully. He was the one who pulled her out of the bog, not the one who gave them this stupid mission, knowing full well what the landscape was like. Kakashi could stew and suffer for all she cared.

There have been some revelations in the past few minutes, and Sakura can’t wait until she can tell Ino.

.

It happens like this. 

Kakashi is minding his own business, staring out of the window, when the door flies open. Tsunade stands there with her hands on her hips, and Kakashi feels immediately guilty, though he has no reason to be. Everyone ignores paperwork, and he’s the Hokage now. 

“Kakashi!” she greets merrily, Shizune peering over her shoulder with an apologetic look on her face. “I have an offer you can’t resist!”

The offer, it turns out, doesn’t come from Tsunade at all. She’s here as warning, to prepare him for being blindsided. Kakashi is grateful; he doesn’t know how he would have reacted to news like this from anyone other than a friend.

Currently, he’s laughing so hard he has tears streaming down his cheeks. Tsunade’s grinning too, nodding encouragingly.

“My reaction exactly. It would make to stablilise the trade route in the north, and all the candidates the daimyō has put forward are very beautiful and intelligent women,” Tsunade says, sobering somewhat. The words draw Kakashi back to reality, and the realisation that this isn’t a complete joke.

“This is a serious offer?” he asks for clarification. “Someone wants me to marry one of their daughters?”

“Not just someone,” Tsunade chides, tapping the files she’d placed in front of him moments before. “He currently controls around 60% of all trade to the Fire kingdom. He’s a big player, though a quiet one, and thinks marrying his daughter to the Hokage is a good move.”

Tsunade crosses her arms over her chest.

“All things considered, for him, it is a good move. He’s arranged a meeting today, under a false name in hopes of keeping you on your toes.” Tsunade presses her lips together, clearly as happy about this turn of events as Kakashi is. 

“It’s not going to happen,” Kakashi replies, and Tsunade raises an eyebrow.

“It would be a strong strategic move, I’d suggest at least hearing him out,” she said, though Kakashi knew Tsunade well enough to tell that she didn’t, for a moment, think he should actually marry one of this man’s daughters.

“Not only is it something I have no interest in hearing, I am happy with my current situation.” Tsunade blinked slowly, and Kakashi sighed. “As is my partner.”

Tsunade’s eyes widened, and she gave a wry laugh. 

“Well that’s that then. I’ll let Shizune know to turn him away. If he’s as reasonable as he claims, that’ll be the end of it.” Tsunade paused, and then smiled. “Let’s go drinking,” she offered, and Kakashi thought that was the most sensible proposition he’d heard all day.

And that was how the issue was resolved. For Kakashi, at least.

.

Two weeks before his mission with Team Kakashi, the fateful swamp mission that drove Sakura almost to breaking point, Yamato could be found stretched out in bed, staring sleepily up at the ceiling. 

“Milk,” he mumbles, watching blearily as Kakashi hovers in the doorway. He was smiling, mask still low, and Yamato pushes himself up onto his elbows, yawning. “You could grab some more milk, I think we’re good other than that though.”

“Duly noted,” Kakashi says, nodding his head. “Enjoy your day off, some of us don’t get that luxury anymore.”

Yamato rolls his eyes and flops back onto the bed. Kakashi was a liar – though technically a Hokage never stood down from protecting their village, weekends and time off were a thing. Their upcoming weekends coincide, and they’d agreed to train together.

Kakashi leaves, and Yamato closes his eyes again. He’s tired, but not enough to actually fall asleep, his mind whirling with the list of things he needs to get done. He needs to clean the apartment, needs to tend their balcony garden, and promised to help Sai with some work in the Hokage tower. Maybe he can grab lunch with Kakashi, though he’s heard rumours that Tsunade is back in the village today, and he has a feeling Kakashi will be taken for a liquid lunch instead. 

He gets up and decides to clean first, and it’s midday by the time Yamato finishes with the plants. He showers, dresses and heads out to meet Sai, who is already there with his head buried in a book.

“Yamato-taichō,” he greets pleasantly, and they enter the Kage tower, sidestepping quickly as Shizune shakes her head, the man who had been with her storming off. Yamato squares himself, preparing to head after the man if need be, but Shizune just shakes her head.

“He didn’t like the answer I gave him,” she says, smiling at the two of them.

“You go ahead Sai, or you’ll miss your appointment. I’ll join you in a few minutes,” Yamato orders, and though it is the truth, he has an inkling that Shizune won’t tell him too much unless they’re alone.

It works, and Shizune steps closer to him.

“That’s the man who controls most of our trade routes. He came looking to marry one of his daughters off to the Hokage,” she widens her eyes dramatically, and Yamato’s breath catches in his chest. 

“He seems to be leaving disappointed,” Yamato points out, and Shizune nods.

“Not even a consideration, which is a good thing if you ask me. The way he reacted to it was awful, definitely not the type of person Kakashi-sama should be with.” She turns and smiles, and Yamato’s stomach drops.

Is he the kind of person who Kakashi should be with? He’s never considered it before, never had reason to doubt that he’s not enough, but something starts to creep in. He buries it and nods to the stairs.

“I better catch up with Sai. I’m helping him with his financial set up,” Yamato explains, ducking out of the situation and heading to the third floor. He’s able to forget about everything for a few hours, as he takes Sai through the process of managing his own finances, and by the time they leave it’s time for dinner, which Sai says he’ll pay for as a thank you. 

So it’s late when Yamato returns home, and Kakashi is back, sprawled out on the sofa snoozing. He wakes as soon as Yamato closes the door, grinning soppily, the way he does when he’s drunk and pretending not to be.

“I thought Tsunade-sama was in the village,” Yamato comments, and Kakashi nods slowly. He sits up, beckoning for Yamato to join him, but Yamato stands where he is, arms crossed over his chest. He wants Kakashi to be honest with him, to know the true story about the man who wanted to marry off his daughters.

“Did something happen today?” Yamato asks, knowing now isn’t the best time for this conversation, but needing to know something.

Kakashi’s smile slips from his face and he sighs heavily. Yamato’s heart pounds in his chest. He hadn’t expected it to be this serious, and his thoughts are all over the place. It should be a simple brush off, a comment that Kakashi continues joking about for weeks before pressing kisses against Yamato’s knuckles.

Instead, it’s this.

“I forgot the milk,” he says, and Yamato freezes. A moment later, Kakashi has his eyes closed, still sitting upright, and Yamato is left in silence. 

It shouldn’t annoy him, because Kakashi has been drinking and is clearly not in a position for a proper conversation. The fact that he’s upset about the milk shows he cares, but something still niggles in Yamato’s head, and he bites the inside of his cheek. 

Instead of dealing with it, he goes to bed.

.

Kakashi wakes groggily. His first action is to run his eyes, and his hand crumples against a sticky-note on his cheek. It’s wrinkled, but he makes out Tenzō’s steady handwriting, and blinks a few times to clear his vision.

Tenzō informs him that he’s let the Hokage office know Kakashi is going to be late today, and will stop by the office with lunch. Kakashi reaches for the water on the coffee table, downs it, and stands shakily. He remembers now why he usually turns Tsunade’s offers down (not that it ever really works), and it takes him a full hour before he’s dressed and feeling vaguely human.

There’s a boxed lunch on his desk when he arrives, and Kakashi brightens. Tenzō is probably around talking to some of his aides, he’s always been a strangely comfortable, social person, and Kakashi wastes no time digging in.

“I’m glad you like it,” a soft voice says from the doorway, and a young woman slips in, looking over her shoulder. Clearly she isn’t a scheduled appointment, and Kakashi pauses, swallowing the mouthful he’d taken. The bento wasn’t from Tenzō, then.

“Can I help you?” he asks, and while he’s not feeling a threat from her, her presence makes Kakashi incredibly uncomfortable.

“My name is Sato Harue,” she introduces, and Kakashi narrows his eyes. Sato Toshihiro is the name of the man Kakashi turned away yesterday, and he thinks he knows what this is all about.

“It would be best if you left. I’m a busy man, and you do not have an appointment.” Kakashi watches as she pushes her long, brown hair behind one ear, looking at him defiantly.

“It is my father’s wish to see me married before the end of the year,” she began, and Kakashi stood, cutting her off.

“That’s enough. I am not interested in the slightest. Please leave before you embarrass yourself.” Harue gives him a long, hard stare, and then leaves, head held high. Kakashi has the feeling she wants this marriage as much as he does, but her father will not accept a no. There’s an easy way to solve this, though Kakashi cannot make that decision without Tenzō. He doesn’t want to push to reveal their private life just because a tradesman has it in his head Kakashi is an ideal son-in-law either. 

Kakashi sees motion at the door, and for a moment thinks that Harue has returned. It’s not her, though, but Tenzō, and he smiles. Tenzō looks at him cautiously, eyes flickering first to the bento on the desk, and then to the direction Harue had disappeared. 

“I wanted to say I’m sorry – I know I promised lunch, but Sai asked for help with something.” Tenzō nods stiffly, and Kakashi frowns, feeling suddenly as if something big has fucked up. 

“Tenzō,” he begins, but doesn’t know how to finish his sentence. Kakashi nods instead, raising a hand to wave as Tenzō heads down the hallway.

Five minutes after he’s left, Kakashi remembers that Sai left on a mission this morning. There is a slim chance he asked for Tenzō’s help with something Tenzō could do alone, but Kakashi thinks there’s something bigger going on. Something he’s just making worse.

Between missions and Kage duties, Tenzō and Kakashi don’t spend that much time together. An emergency splits up their supposed shared weekend, and the next one won’t be for another month or so. Tenzō gets called to help track down some intelligence agents, and Kakashi is busy preparing for one of the many festivals Konoha holds. He has to make a speech at this one, one that pays tribute to the tradesmen of the village, and Kakashi deosn’t know how he can word it that doesn’t come off as accepting a marriage proposal.

Sato Harue crosses his path frequently, though she never stops to talk to him. Kakashi wonders if she was always there and he simply didn’t know her. There are a few occasions she interacts with him, and Kakashi can see the desire to talk with him in her eyes. He never lingers, though he feels as if the interaction is too much. It’s not a betrayal, but because he hasn’t talked to Tenzō about any of this, it feels wrong.

There are very few occasions Kakashi feels he can bring it up, and he’s delaying the inevitable if he’s honest. He doesn’t know how to talk about it, because he hasn’t done anything, so it’s not really an issue, but he knows it’s bothering the both of them. He doesn’t want to make it a big deal, and if they acknowledge it, that’s what it’ll become. 

It’s easier when there are other people around, so when Kakashi sees that Tenzō has taken their team out and should be returning soon, he heads down to greet them. 

It doesn’t quite go how he’d imagined.

.

Sakura’s just finished moisturising when her doorbell rings. She frowns, sure that Ino took the key with her when she went to buy booze, and marches to the door in a towel, rolling her eyes as she pulls the door open.

“Oh,” she says, embarrassment flooding her as she sees the person on the threshold. “Yamato-taichō.”

“Can I come in?” he asks, and he sounds pissed off. Sakura nods, stepping back and pulling her towel tighter. “Sorry to intrude,” Yamato amends, and then seems to finally realise what Sakura is wearing.

“I can leave,” he says hurriedly, but Sakura pats his bicep gently. 

“Ino will be back any moment with wine. Feel free to get comfy on the sofa, I’ll just chuck some pyjamas on then I’ll be with you.” Sakura does just that, and by the time she’s changed and back, Yamato is perched on the very edge of the sofa, looking down at the ground.

“Taichō?” Sakura ventures, and Yamato looks up. The front door bangs into the wall, and Ino calls out a loud greeting, bottles in her bag clanking.

“Let’s get this bitching session going!” she shrieks, pausing when she enters the room. “Er… hi?”

Yamato looks so guilty, and Sakura beams at Ino.

“Yamato-taichō is going to join us tonight,” she says, and Ino looks at her for a moment, shrugging eventually. 

“Fine, but he can buy the wine next time in that case.” Sakura can tell the reply surprises Yamato, and she wonders, not for the first time, what kind of life he’s had. She doesn’t actually know anything more than he uses the mokuton, used to be in ROOT and was Kakashi’s subordinate in ANBU. 

Although she’s already given Ino a run down of her awful day, after the wine is poured, Sakura embellishes the tale. She slops red wine onto the carpet, and knows that’ll cost her, but she doesn’t care. Even Yamato is laughing at the tale, somewhat eased after his first glass, and Ino is shrieking, leaning against Sakura on their sofa.

When it quietens, Sakura refilling glasses, that’s when Yamato talks.

“I don’t have anyone else to really talk to about this,” he admits, and Sakura leans forward, nodding in a way she hopes is encouraging. “I don’t know if it’s appropriate, but I need some advice.”

Ino nods in time with her, and Sakura, smiles.

“We won’t tell anyone. These nights are sacred,” she says, and Yamato looks up at her, gaze softening. 

“My… partner has recently been keeping something from me,” Yamato begins, and Sakura’s eyes widen. She had never expected Yamato to go straight in, and she squashes down her curiosity in favour to help. It doesn’t matter who Yamato’s partner is, even if she had a pretty good guess.

“Keeping what? Are they having an affair? Sneaking off to make you a gift?” Ino asks, and Yamato shakes his head.

“There was a proposition, and I know he’s not taken it up, but he wouldn’t tell me either.” Yamato takes a sip of his wine, looking away.

“Is that why Kakash-sensei was at the gate today?” Sakura asks quietly. For a moment, she thinks Yamato is about to flee, but he holds her gaze and nods.

“He was propositioned three weeks ago, and only just told me know. I knew the day it happened, and yet…” Yamato runs a hand through his hair, sighing. “I feel ridiculous. I know nothing came of it, even if she did give him that stupid lunch, and it’s not as if I have anything to worry about, I wouldn’t have married him if I thought something this stupid could come between us…. But….” 

Sakura’s eyes widen, and she glances at Ino. Ino is watching with a similar expression, and her eyes meet Sakura’s, the both of them reaching for each other and squeezing hands tightly. This has got to be the biggest nugget of gossip they’ve ever heard, and they can’t even react to the fact their Hokage is married. 

“So what made you come and join us instead of talking to Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asks, heart pounding. She wants to help, really help. Her own love is something she doesn’t want to even think about in any terms, so if she can help Yamato with his, a proper grown love that has stood the test of years (she assumes anyway, surely they’d know if Kakashi had gotten married while he was their teacher), then that is something incredible.

“It’s easier,” Yamato says without hesitation, and Ino mumbles something. Sakura doesn’t hear it, but Yamato does, and he laughs.

“I don’t think either of us are to blame, but I do owe him an apology.” Yamato looks as if the weight of the world had slipped from his shoulders, and he settles on the sofa, more relaxed than before.

“So,” Ino says after a moment’s pause,” now we’ve figured out that all you need to do is talk to Kakashi-sensei, want to tell us how you two got together? And stuck together?”

There is a strange look in Ino’s eye, and Sakura grins as Ino flushes at her next words.

“Shouldn’t you be asking Kakashi-sensei how to land a former ROOT member instead?” she teases, and she notices Yamato perk up in interest, mouthing Sai’s name at her. Sakura nods, and Yamato seems to consider this.

Yes, he can definitely be entered into the Ino-Sakura drinking nights she thinks.

.

Yamato stays at Sakura and Ino’s house that night, and while he’s embarrassed to have fallen asleep without asking beforehand, the girls roll their eyes and sit him down to a lavish breakfast. He’s told to meet up with them in two and a half weeks, for another drinking night, and Yamato finds himself agreeing happily. They wish him luck as he leaves, and Yamato nods stiffly. His problem seemed so easily solved last night amidst sips of alcohol, now it seems just as gargantuan as before.

Yamato’s sure he’s faced worse. Somehow. 

Kakashi isn’t home, and Yamato doesn’t leave to go and find him. He cleans the house – not that it needs a clean, it’s pretty spotless – and tends to his plants that, again, don’t really need his attention. He hasn’t done either of these things in a while, and his heart warms at the thought of Kakashi watering their garden carefully, always afraid of fucking the balance of nature up.

As Yamato walks around the house, ever minor thing he’s annoyed at Kakashi about melts away. It doesn’t matter that Kakashi never told him about the proposal, or that sometimes he leaves the dishes until the next day without even soaking them, or how sometimes he just leaves his pants in the middle of the bathroom. Or that he always forgets to replace the toilet paper. 

The little annoyances don’t matter, because Yamato can see all the ways that Kakashi does care. From the stack of unread architecture books to the extra cabinet Kakashi had sacrificed scroll space for – things Yamato wanted in their house. He always lets Yamato know before he summons his pack to the house, and will bring home a small plant from whatever country he’s off visiting whenever possible. Kakashi loves him, and Yamato feels overwhelmingly guilty for not talking to him before.

While Yamato can afford to coast around the house as his team has the day off, Kakashi doesn’t have that luxury. Yet still groceries are stocked, and there seems to be at least six cartons of milk. Maybe he’d been hoping that would fix it, and Yamato hadn’t even noticed before now. 

Pacing around the house is what Yamato settles on doing, and the sound of the front door freezes him in his tracks, dead centre in the living room. There’s a familiar shuffle of feet, and a moment later Kakashi appears, though he seems just as surprised to see Yamato as Yamato is him.

“Sakura sent Katsuyu over last night,” Kakashi says, and Yamato flushes. He’s never been great at holding his alcohol, and it’s a little embarrassing he practically passed out. Still, he definitely needs to send a big thank you Sakura’s way.

“I didn’t mean to stay out all night,” Yamato admits, and sinks onto the sofa. He turns, wanting to ask Kakashi to join him, but there is still a divide between them at the moment. “I think they’ve adopted me, though. Somehow I’ve fooled them into thinking I know lots of gossip and hot stories, as they put it.” Yamato smiles as Kakashi joins him, slumping down into the sofa and pulling his mask down. He looks tired, and Yamato wraps an arm around him, letting Kakashi use his shoulder as a pillow.

“You do know lots of hot stories,” Kakashi mumbles. “The social lives of Konoha’s shinobi are an open book for you,” he says, and Yamato laughs. People find him easy to talk to, for some reason, and most tend to be over-divulging. 

“I’m sorry, you know,” Yamato says suddenly, swallowing thickly. “I knew about the tradesman asking for you to marry one of his daughters from the first day, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think you were hiding anything, but then I… I don’t know,” Yamato finishes, blinking as Kakashi moves, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He sits up fully, looking at Yamato with kind eyes.

“I fucked up my apology yesterday. I panicked,” Kakashi says, and Yamato gives a soft snort of laughter. “But I am sorry for not telling you. Part of me didn’t think it was important enough, and the other half didn’t want to make it an issue.” 

Yamato brought his hand up to smooth against Kakashi’s cheek, and he kissed the tip of Kakashi’s nose.

“How about we just agree we were being ridiculous?” he says, and Kakashi nods, though there is a strange gleam in his eyes. Yamato raises an eyebrow, knowing he’s not going to enjoy the next words that come out of Kakashi’s mouth.

“Why don’t we renew our vows?” he says, and Yamato waits for the catch. When it doesn’t come, he presses.

“Where?” he asks, and Kakashi grins, tilting his head to the side and taking Yamato’s hands.

“Somewhere small, in front of our team and a few high officials who can get off my back about marriage prospects. And maybe the news could leak tastefully into a small news article on page two of the paper.” For someone who never wanted to expose their relationship in the past, Yamato is so proud of Kakashi for this moment. 

It’s not as if Yamato himself has had reservations. He’s clung to secrecy and lies all his life. Marrying Kakashi years ago had been something half done in desperation as he moved on with his new genin team, and half proof that there would always be someone for the both of them. They’d done it in love, yes, but they hadn’t had the time back then to settle and enjoy that love. 

Now, a renewal of vows in front of a majority of people who would be something of their family sounds like something Yamato will enjoy.

“It’s not going to happen. There will be crying and Naruto will get upset about it being so touching. If you want Sasuke there we’ll have to wait some time too, and I’m still not sure how much Sai understands relationships and-“ Kakashi squeezes his hand, and Yamato stops. He smiles, knowing his words are empty. He doesn’t mean them one bit, and he knows they’re both going to jump into this together. 

“How do you fancy making me late back after lunch?” Kakashi asks, and Yamato supposes he can oblige. 

And if it so happens Kakashi has to take the entire afternoon off in the end… it’s not as if he won’t make it up in the grand scheme of things.

.

They set a date for the winter. The snow is cold, ice formations creeping across the windows. The lights flicker as the blizzard outside worsens, and it has to be the worst weather Konoha has seen in decades.

Kakashi doesn’t care, though. Not when his family are laughing around him at something Tenzō is saying. Not when Tenzō’s hand is so warm and strong in his. Not when he has everything he could ever have wished for and more.


End file.
